Because if we're going to try and stop the misuse of our favorite comics and their protagonists by the companies that write and publish them, we've got to see what both the printed and online comics news is doing wrong. This blog focuses on both the good and the bad, the newspaper media and the online websites. Unabashedly. Unapologetically. Scanning the media for what's being done right and what's being done wrong.

Friday, May 17, 2013

Yahoo's movie section latest to fawn over Grant Morrison

Yahoo's movie section has become the latest mainstream news outlet to sugarcoat Grant Morrison. They begin by saying:

For an honorary knight who has his own convention, Grant Morrison remains relatively unknown -- unless of course you're a comic books fan.

Anybody who doesn't know who or what Grant Morrison's writing is like - including his wretched metaphors for drugs, alienating violence and even left-wingpolitics - is better off not knowing who he is and is guaranteed to feel all the better for it by avoiding his output.

Pretty much everyone in the comics community knows that Morrison has written some seminal runs in both the DC Comics and Marvel universes, including game-changing retellings of both Superman and Batman.

And they also know that those New52 retcons are better left unread, because ultimately, they're pointless. Besides, he didn't retell Batman, since that was all but left unchanged (unless you count the forced retcon to Tim Drake as Robin). But he did retcon Superman, right down to phasing out Clark Kent's pairing with Lois Lane.

While hearing Morrison talk about his new projects was certainly fascinating, we were also interested in Morrison's unique perspective on why superhero movie fans are missing out if they're not reading comics. "They're missing the full spectrum of these character's emotional lives," said Morrison. "The most important thing is the long involved soap operas. It's a type of narrative that you don't get anywhere else except on very long running soap operas, where characters can go into depth. 20 pages every month going into these characters lives over decades give you a lot more insight and a lot more involvement than say a two hour movie, even with Robert Downey Jr."

Morrison is known as someone who can breathe new life into a series, even if that means rewriting a character's past. [...]

Correction: he's known as someone who can all but boost sales because of the built in fanbase he's got, consisting of people who'll read his work no matter the quality, and can leave the series along with him. It's a problem that's not limited to him alone: even J. Michael Stracynski and Geoff Johns have followers like that, who'll only give them chances that other writers don't get, even if they're more sincere.

And his word on emotional lives is ambiguous - you can't tell whether he's referring to old or new storytelling, and if it's newer, then he's obscuring how far both DC and Marvel have gone to abandon character drama. Come to think of it, even "emotional" can have a downside: what if it ends up becoming too much? Or, what if it ends up becoming contrived?

He also reveals that David Goyer may have drawn from his work for the new Man of Steel movie:

...we also wanted to get Morrison's take on the upcoming Superman movie "Man of Steel. "I've spoken to [screenwriter] David Goyer, not about the 'Man of Steel,' but I know he's used a couple of my lines from some of my Superman stuff in it. And that's the only involvement I've had. But that's good enough for me," said Morrison. "I'm really looking forward to it. There's a very good chance this is going to be the Superman movie that changes the movie perception of Superman."

Man, I sure hope Goyer didn't use too much influence from Morrison, because if he did, it's bound to be a dreadful affair mighty fast.

But the thought of this new movie changing the view to a much darker one to suit modern political correctness still gives reason to be very wary of what the resulting quality will be like, and for all we know, this could be an embarrassment thanks to the producers' belief that overbearing darkness is the only way to go, and the whole absurd notion that modern audiences will not give optimism a chance.

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About me

I'm Avi Green

From Jerusalem, Israel

I was born in Pennsylvania in 1974, and moved to Israel in 1983. I also enjoyed reading a lot of comics when I was young, the first being Fantastic Four. I maintain a strong belief in the public's right to knowledge and accuracy in facts. I like to think of myself as a conservative-style version of Clark Kent. I don't expect to be perfect at the job, but I do my best.